Paris Fashion Week has kicked off with a mix of fresh talent, major designer debuts, and calls for ethical change in the fashion industry. As top luxury houses prepare to unveil their Fall-Winter 2025-2026 collections, the industry faces economic challenges and significant leadership transitions at major brands.
Paris Women's Fashion Week kicked off on Monday with young new labels dominating the catwalks before a trio of hotly awaited designer debuts at Givenchy, Dries Van Noten, and Tom Ford in the coming days.
The opening of the world's biggest fashion week also saw demonstrations from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) charity and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, demanding that the industry stop using animal hides.
Dressed in fake prehistoric fur outfits, five PETA activists held up placards reading "Leave The Stone Age" in front of the French Fashion Institute, while the Brigitte Bardot Foundation sent billboards on trucks denouncing the use of animals for fashion around the City of Light.
Fur and sheepskin jackets are back in fashion, with experts like Simon Longland, director of fashion buying at Harrods in London, saying the shearling coat is "set to be the ultimate wardrobe investment" for Fall-Winter 2025.
"We're here to demand that Paris joins London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam in banning the use of fur on their catwalks," PETA spokeswoman Natasha Garnier said.
On the runways, France's Victor Weinsanto, Japanese label CFCL, and New York's Vaquera held their shows Monday before the bigger corporate luxury juggernauts unveil their Fall-Winter collections later this week.
Japanese designer Yusuke Takahashi, who founded CFCL (Clothing For Contemporary Life) just under five years ago, sent out models in knitwear outfits in primary colors, inspired partly by furniture from the 1980s.
There was no fur or animal hide in sight, with Takahashi making elaborate use of his favorite material, recycled polyester, which was used for 90 percent of the collection.
"We really focused on knit technology and making new products," he told reporters afterward.
Victor Weinsanto, an up-and-coming designer from eastern France, stressed that he only used fake leather and fur in his collection, which featured mostly neutral wintery colors of white, beige, and black, with a splash of 1980s-style purple.
Debuts
Over the next eight days, more than 100 fashion houses will unveil their Fall-Winter 2025-2026 collections, hoping to rally sales in what is an increasingly difficult global luxury market.
Among the most anticipated will be Sarah Burton's debut at Givenchy on Friday, with the French label given a boost by Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet, who wore a yellow Givenchy suit at the Oscars ceremony over the weekend.
Burton, a 51-year-old Briton who made her name as creative director at Alexander McQueen, was appointed to Givenchy in September.
"Givenchy has a very beautiful history," she told Vogue in a profile last month. "It appeals to me because it's a small house, and it's in Paris."
Burton is one of a number of recent changes at major brands, with Belgian veteran Dries Van Noten stepping down from his eponymous label last year and handing the reins to fellow countryman Julian Klausner, 33.
Klausner's first collection on Wednesday will be closely scrutinized.
The French Haute Couture and Fashion Federation has also pulled off a coup by luring Tom Ford, a mainstay of New York Fashion Week, to Paris for the first time.
Chief designer Haider Ackermann, who took over at Tom Ford in September and is also tasked with leading a brand defined by its founder, will be making his catwalk debut on Wednesday.
Downturn
French luxury heavyweights Louis Vuitton, Dior, Saint Laurent, and Chanel will produce the biggest-budget shows this week, with their front row seats fought over by celebrities and influencers.
Dior's show on Tuesday could be the last from head designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, with persistent rumors and press reports suggesting that she is on the way out.
Northern Irish stylist Jonathan Anderson, who is currently at the helm of Spanish label Loewe, is tipped as her potential replacement.
The luxury industry as a whole has seen profits fall and sales slow.
Paris-based LVMH, Europe's largest company by market value, reported a 17 percent fall in annual net profits, which it attributed to the end of the luxury-buying "euphoria" following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Analysts see weakness in the key luxury market of China, reduced appetite for high-priced goods, and widespread economic uncertainty as other reasons for the decline.
Fellow French luxury giant Kering reported a 62 percent drop in profits last year, largely due to struggles at its flagship Gucci brand.
Elsewhere on Monday, the Financial Times reported that Prada had emerged as the frontrunner to buy fellow Italian label Versace from Capri Holdings for about 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion).
The takeover would combine two of Italy's best-known luxury fashion brands.
With AFP
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